Xbox 360 PS3

Codemasters released Rise of the Argonauts on Xbox 360, PC and Playstation 3 in the US this week, while everyone in Europe but the UK got it last friday. Some of you might have seen the launch trailer we put up last week, and I was really skeptical about it after watching it. Fact is, that the game looks pretty acceptable except for the cut-scenes, and more importantly it's pretty fun to play.

The game is an action game centered around the Greek mythology. Tge story includes several mythological figures, like Titans and magical beasts. Interacting with the characters is pretty advanced for being an action game, using a system similar to Mass Effect. Several answers are sometimes available, like choosing what weapon you request or what direction you want the conversation to take.

What I first experienced with the controls was that they are very instant. When pressing attack, there is an instant response from the fighter. This makes the fights pretty interesting, though some might find it a bit unrealistic with the lightning-fast combat.

There are several weapons to chose from, and attacks are created by pressing different combinations of X and Y. Using the spear gives the option of either swing it with X or do a straight thrust forward with Y. As shown in the video below, X can be used to shatter a shield and Y to attack those without shields. During a fight there is also aid available from both simple guards and more famous figures.

The game suffer from some technical issues. There's the occasional framedrop and sudden "teleport" of characters. I didn't find it game breaking at all, but it is worth to be mentioned. The animations also tend to look pretty bad in some situations.

There is pretty heavy editing in this video - I wanted to fit the first level/tutorial in one video, so I removed some of the opening combat sequences. The first three fights or so are pretty dumbed down anyway and there's tons of better ones in the video later on. Enjoy!

broman
broman
Commented on 2008-12-19 16:57:43
When I look at a game like this, or Beast Rider, or Conan, or even Heavenly Sword, I wonder... just what are the developers doing to take advantage of new tech? It's the same gameplay we've seen for a decade, but with improved graphics.
In reply to
MvmntInGrn
MvmntInGrn
Commented on 2008-12-19 18:40:50 In reply to broman
It looks playable but every aspect is somewhat dated from the get go. It works I suppose but no one is going to say "This is my favorite game of this year!"
Posted by broman
When I look at a game like this, or Beast Rider, or Conan, or even Heavenly Sword, I wonder... just what are the developers doing to take advantage of new tech? It's the same gameplay we've seen for a decade, but with improved graphics.
Well I agree with Beast Rider and Conan, this is definitely in that league. Heavenly Sword at the very least nailed the visuals, its gameplay was satisfactory if a bit too GOW inspired. At least that is my opinion.

But for the most part I agree, I feel like games like this could have been done on PS2/XBOX/GC just not in HD. No impressive physics, pretty textures, nice shadows (these look quite bad to me), nice effects, or good lighting. And the gameplay is straight up hack and slash.

Definitely not something I can see many picking up at full price, maybe at $30 or lower if you really like this type of thing.
In reply to
donkeyman
donkeyman
Commented on 2008-12-19 19:19:36 In reply to MvmntInGrn
Posted by MvmntInGrn
It looks playable but every aspect is somewhat dated from the get go. It works I suppose but no one is going to say "This is my favorite game of this year!"



Well I agree with Beast Rider and Conan, this is definitely in that league. Heavenly Sword at the very least nailed the visuals, its gameplay was satisfactory if a bit too GOW inspired. At least that is my opinion.

But for the most part I agree, I feel like games like this could have been done on PS2/XBOX/GC just not in HD. No impressive physics, pretty textures, nice shadows (these look quite bad to me), nice effects, or good lighting. And the gameplay is straight up hack and slash.
Nailed?
Jebus, You could say it had extremely good character models, very good mo-cap (just for cutscenes, even if the Lip-synch was way Off), but... the animation, GOD! The transition from stances where the character was here, and a millisecond after it was 2 feets away because of animation, without middle connection... FLUID it was not.
Reminded me from PSX era Beat'em ups. Ugh.
In reply to
bleachedsmiles
bleachedsmiles
Commented on 2008-12-19 21:11:23
I really never got the appeal of Heavenly sword. It was pretty in stills alone. Once it started moving there was consistant slow down and the animations looked broken...and what was with her hair???

Been looking forward to this for a long time.. shame i'll have to wait longer now. Although IGNUK didnt seem to think much of it..6/10
In reply to
GeRaLTo
GeRaLTo
Commented on 2008-12-19 21:42:08 In reply to broman
Posted by broman
When I look at a game like this, or Beast Rider, or Conan, or even Heavenly Sword, I wonder... just what are the developers doing to take advantage of new tech? It's the same gameplay we've seen for a decade, but with improved graphics.
U should ask the very samy question to epic, bungie and all other BIG hype devs. HS and even Conan was fun to play but comparing ROTA to them is a blasphemy. THis one is simply crap of the year awards winner. Manager gotta be really horny (being horny aint a bad thing...right ? ) to say its fun to play lol.
In reply to
nepton
nepton
Commented on 2008-12-19 23:07:07
Unreal Engine 3... what could we expect :p

*waiting for the first angry reply*
In reply to
MvmntInGrn
MvmntInGrn
Commented on 2008-12-20 00:09:47 In reply to donkeyman
Posted by donkeyman
Nailed?
Jebus, You could say it had extremely good character models, very good mo-cap (just for cutscenes, even if the Lip-synch was way Off), but... the animation, GOD! The transition from stances where the character was here, and a millisecond after it was 2 feets away because of animation, without middle connection... FLUID it was not.
Reminded me from PSX era Beat'em ups. Ugh.
I suppose what I said may have been misunderstood. I didn't mean to imply that I thought it was the best looking game ever but it did hit what I would call AAA in that department.

Where as I look at game like Conan and Beast Rider and it didn't hit AAA anywhere. Understand?
In reply to
KORNdog
KORNdog
Commented on 2008-12-20 00:19:14 In reply to donkeyman
Posted by donkeyman
Nailed?
Jebus, You could say it had extremely good character models, very good mo-cap (just for cutscenes, even if the Lip-synch was way Off), but... the animation, GOD! The transition from stances where the character was here, and a millisecond after it was 2 feets away because of animation, without middle connection... FLUID it was not.
Reminded me from PSX era Beat'em ups. Ugh.
was your PS3 crashing while you where playing heavenly sword or something? cos when i played it animations where super fluid, and facial animations where pretty much the best we've seen. gameplay was very good also, the only thing letting heavenly sword down was its play time, but weirdly, god of war 2 was about the same length and is crittically acclaimed. heavenly sword is hugely underrated. imo

might actually play twing twang again some time.
In reply to
Sath - Missed the<br>hay
Sath
Commented on 2008-12-20 00:46:11
I thought Heavenly Sword was great, but also lacked in a few stuff.

I rebought the game yesterday and with the DS3 support update it feels "better".

Anyway, the lack is, short game, but a very good experience on at that though.
No other weapons other than Heavenly Sword, not even some power magic moves.
No other outfits for Nariko, that would be very cool to see.

But other than that, I thought it was a very very good game, much better than B games from the looks of it like Conan and Beast Rider.
In reply to
donkeyman
donkeyman
Commented on 2008-12-20 00:54:17 In reply to KORNdog
Posted by KORNdog
was your PS3 crashing while you where playing heavenly sword or something? cos when i played it animations where super fluid, and facial animations where pretty much the best we've seen.
Ha ha, never played God of war or Ninja gaiden, have you?

They are some of the worst I've ever seen in a button masher.
In reply to
KORNdog
KORNdog
Commented on 2008-12-20 02:24:35 In reply to donkeyman
Posted by donkeyman
Ha ha, never played God of war or Ninja gaiden, have you?
yes
In reply to
Blue_Eagle44
Blue_Eagle44
Commented on 2008-12-20 02:35:12
heavenly sword is a dam fine game, can't decide about the hair lol, gameplay is decent if abit repetitive and monotonous, but the characters...simply are just wow, I love the character that just oozes out of everyone, excellent facial animations and voice work along with brilliant monologues from nariko, kai (think its her "go play twing twang") is just exceptionally likeable seriously if the characters weren't done to the standard they are I don't think I would of enjoyed the game anywhere near as much.

As for this game, looked pretty meh from the get go.
In reply to
sykofantiz
sykofantiz
Commented on 2008-12-20 04:42:03
Shouldn't you guys be comparing it to other RPGs rather than to full on action games??
In reply to
GeRaLTo
GeRaLTo
Commented on 2008-12-20 09:58:31 In reply to sykofantiz
Posted by sykofantiz
Shouldn't you guys be comparing it to other RPGs rather than to full on action games??
I'd rather compare it to racing games. All U looking for is a finish line :p Seriously man, this game aint RPG or even action-rpg.
In reply to
Baleur
Baleur
Commented on 2008-12-20 12:32:35 In reply to broman
Posted by broman
When I look at a game like this, or Beast Rider, or Conan, or even Heavenly Sword, I wonder... just what are the developers doing to take advantage of new tech? It's the same gameplay we've seen for a decade, but with improved graphics.
Im still the only guy that actually LIKED Conan :P (the hack n slash for the 360, not the mmo)
In reply to
MoonWalkinYiddo
MoonWalkinYiddo
Commented on 2008-12-20 12:52:49
Why are people comparing this to Heavenly Sword and God of War etc? It's an action RPG and has elements of a few different genres. It's not a straight up hack 'n slash. Also I am playing the game right now and the presentation is excellent. So far the fighting is fun and fluid. Also the graphics look very nice considering it's a big game. The voice acting and story so far and very good also.
In reply to
JFetch
JFetch
Commented on 2008-12-20 17:53:55 In reply to broman
Posted by broman
When I look at a game like this, or Beast Rider, or Conan, or even Heavenly Sword, I wonder... just what are the developers doing to take advantage of new tech? It's the same gameplay we've seen for a decade, but with improved graphics.
Wouldn't improving the graphics be taking advantage of new tech? I don't really understand what you mean.
In reply to
Ronsauce
Ronsauce
Commented on 2008-12-20 20:01:54 In reply to Baleur
Posted by Baleur
Im still the only guy that actually LIKED Conan :P (the hack n slash for the 360, not the mmo)
Nope. I LOVED it! I still found it's combat to be some of the most fluid(not from an over-the-top, artificial combo sort of way), impactful, and wholly satisfying.
In reply to
sasuke2121
sasuke2121
Commented on 2008-12-21 07:17:38
E只game好似几唔错
In reply to
daikide
daikide
Commented on 2008-12-22 17:36:40
better than I expected. Bad animations...
In reply to
C0nk3r5
C0nk3r5
Commented on 2009-01-02 09:35:48
I finished it last night. All I can say is, I enjoyed it.
In reply to
Megido
Megido
Commented on 2009-01-02 09:44:43 In reply to Baleur
Posted by Baleur
Im still the only guy that actually LIKED Conan :P (the hack n slash for the 360, not the mmo)
Nah i liked Conan too, though it got sort of screwed up towards the end, which is really too bad as it could have been a great game. It sort of pissed me off how the game claimed to build on the Howard stuff and didn't do so in the least. All in all i enjoyed it though.
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